May 15, 2011

Today's Hotness: Gold-Bears, The War On Drugs, Yuck

>> Oh man we love this new Gold-Bears tune "Record Store," and we have high hopes for the rising, Atlanta-based quartet's full-length debut Are You Falling In Love? The album was released earlier this month by the obviously dominating and awesome Slumberland Records (although a note at the web site indicates the vinyl version is delayed until June 7). "Record Store" radiates a classic Slumberland sound saturated in fuzzy guitars, espousing big melodies, and rocking most steadfastly. Gold-Bears, who play PA's Lounge in Somerville, Massachusetts Wednesday, formed in 2010 and the band centers around songwriter Jeremy Underwood, formerly of the act Plastic Mastery (555 Recordings/Magic Marker Records). If the rest of the record sounds anything like the song embedded below, we imagine we'll listen to Are You Falling In Love? until people are sick of being around us. Buy the record from Slumberland right here.

>> While we've been looking the other way, Philadelphia's The War On Drugs has been up to a lot. The remarkable folk-rock droners recently announced they would issue a sophomore full-length Slave Ambient Aug. 16 on Secretly Canadian. The collection -- which will be issued as a 45RPM double LP, as well as in those new formats the kids like -- was recorded in a number of places including Jeff Ziegler's Uniform Recording studio. Secretly Canadian is offering the tune "Baby Missiles" as a teaser for the new collection; fans will recognize the rhythmic foundation as very similar to the uptempo shuffle of "Taking The Farm," a stand-out track from The War On Drugs' superlative debut full-length Wagonwheel Blues, which was one of our favorite records of 2008. "Baby Missiles" updates the prior track with some "Walk Of Life"-style synth lines, some Springsteen-esque harmonica wail and a touch more frenetic energy. Taken in sum, the tune succeeds in making us want to hear the rest of Slave Ambient post-haste. In other news, The War On Drugs issued last fall a second EP Future Weather, which completely passed us by, and you can buy that thing right here.

The War On Drugs -- "Baby Missiles" -- Slave Ambient[right click and save as][pre-order Slave Ambient sometime soon from Secretly Canadian right here]

>> We've been remiss in noting that London-based indie rock upstarts Yuck will self-release a double A-sided vinyl single June 27. The young outfit's release touts a non-album track "Milkshake" etched into one face; the grooves on the other face will recreate the sounds of the song "Shook Down" -- from the band's excellent self-titled debut issued by Fat Possum Feb. 15 -- when it is correctly scratched by a "stylus" or "needle" affixed to the tone arm of a record player. Not sure why Fat Possum did not issue this single, but perhaps Yuck's was a one-album dealy, or maybe Fat Possum just didn't want to participate in the vinyl release. The quartet returns to the U.S. in mid-July for two weeks of dates beginning at the Pantsfork festival in Chicago and ending with a date at The Troubador in Los Angeles July 30. "Milkshake" is a pretty strong guitar jam, and if you want to do the proverbial try before you buy, hit the Soundcloud stream below. We think you'll dig it. The inimitable Ric Dube -- host of the delightful More Lost Time podcast -- reviewed Yuck's recent Boston show right here in late April.